A Marvelous Devil.
Chapter 17: The Whisperer.
Dante Andromalius.
New York, 2007. Three months later.
"Is this truly what you want, my dear?" I asked the elderly woman sitting in front of me as I sipped from my steaming cup.
I tried not to grimace, forcing a calm expression despite the disgust.
Hot cocoa and energy drinks didn't mix. Should've listened to Wong.
Experimenting was too fun, especially now that I owned the whole building.
The elder nodded seriously, even through her tears. A bit of sleight of hand and a handkerchief appeared in my hand.
Her eyes widened, making me smirk.
"I want them gone," she growled. "After what they did, they don't deserve freedom."
I smiled softly.
"That's why I came here. Everyone says you can make anything happen. Can you do this for me, young man?" she asked emotionally.
Oh, how precious. The cross hanging from her neck made this moment even more delightful.
"And what do you want specifically, my dear?" I locked eyes with her, seeing through her pain and fanning the growing hatred in her heart.
I was just bringing her memories to the open. Nothing too dark; Wong was still mad about the last grandpa who was in this office.
Who knew Wong had a soft spot for the elderly?
He was pissed that I manipulated him so hard. Bastard, I didn't even take his soul. He didn't lose anything valuable either; I didn't take the pendant of his departed wife.
I didn't have a dimension to call my own, and creating one was something… expensive. No, unless I found another dimension that didn't have a lord, I wouldn't be asking for souls of these mortals.
But even though I was fair, Wong didn't speak to me for over a week.
"Do you want them dead?" I tapped my finger on the table. "I assure you, I can make them disappear, and no one will look for them."
Her eyes widened even more, an offended look growing in her face as she stood up.
"I shouldn't have listened to Martha," she snorted, "I knew she was getting along with the wrong sort. What are you, boy? A hit man?"
I stayed seated, fighting the urge to roll my eyes. Mortals' double standards even rivaled those of demons.
"Then, why did you come here? Just for a scare?" I sighed, "Should have started with that."
She stopped cold.
"After all, they did beat up your nephew, no?" Her shoulders trembled, but she kept her back towards me.
I smirked darkly.
"Poor Jonathan is still in the hospital, right?"
"The Kingpin…" she growled, "Those punks did that to my angel."
Bah. The idiot thought it was a good idea to steal drugs from the dealer. Was it a wonder they beat him up to an inch of his life?
"But here you are… getting offended at me offering to make them disappear," I snorted, "Or do you want them to go through the same thing Jonathan did?"
"How did you know about that?" she asked, turning around hesitantly.
"I know everything that goes around here, my fair lady," I smiled devilishly, my canines showing. "That's why you came here… You don't even know who did that."
I wasn't exactly lying. I had heard about the idiot in passing thanks to my business, but the rest of the information, I took out of her mind.
Oddly enough, opening a café worked better than a bar. I owed the idea to Wong, even if he regretted it.
If I'd opened a bar instead, at least Wong would have an excuse to get drunk over my antics. Now, he just had to... suck it up.
Heh.
"I want them to suffer," she admitted, her voice cracking with shame and self-disgust. "But only those who beat up my baby."
"No innocents, okay?" she said softly.
"Fine, I can make that happen," I rolled my eyes, tired of this conversation. "Now, let's talk about payment."
"How much do you want?" she asked, looking as done with the situation as I was.
"I have no need of money, Olivia Anderson," I grinned, earning a surprised look. "What, do you think I meet everyone who seeks me out? I only allow those who have something I want, and you, my dear, can help me in the future."
A complete lie. But she didn't need to know that. At this point, I was doing deals with almost everyone I could without attracting too much attention; every deal strengthened me just a tiny bit, depending on how hard it was.
But she did have something I wanted.
"What do you want?" she asked, almost fearfully. I guess realizing that someone already knew all about you might be scary.
"You're on the Midtown High board, yes? I want five favors."
"Absolutely not," she shook her head, but my smile remained unchanged. I didn't move. She also didn't leave.
"…Three favors," she muttered.
I smiled sharply, "You have a deal, my dear Olivia."
As we clasped hands, the weight of my power fell upon both of our shoulders. She shivered, but I just let her hand go. She could think what she wanted; I already got what I desired.
And I ignored the raised hair on her neck. And the sweet smell coming out of her.
Every demon worth their salt took advantage of the senses, and one of the first things I did was enhance mine enough to notice minute changes with mortals.
And I went too far. Now, I could even smell their pheromones. At least they weren't disgusting, most of the time.
She was a bit too old looking for my taste. But I couldn't fault her either. Devils were charming, and as I grew stronger, there was something inside me that kept changing. It wasn't something I had read from other devils in my new life, but perhaps my different soul had something to do with it.
And mortals fell for my charm too fast. I was already bored with the multiple model agencies searching for me.
Who knew making a single deal with one idiot would make me that famous? I had to put a stop to that with my wards; a single agency was enough. And it did help my café, so I couldn't complain that much.
Having a model inside all the time drew a lot of women, and the jealous looks on their boyfriends' faces were hilarious.
Olivia opened the door, swaying her hips more than necessary, and sent a look towards me.
Ugh. No, thank you.
Wong was already outside, letting her pass as he entered the room.
"Really, Dante?" he groaned, "Do you have to corrupt everyone that meets you? I started drinking thanks to you."
"Mortals fall for pretty faces. Not my fault you lot lack self-control." I rolled my eyes.
"So, what's new?" I asked, stretching on the table. "Is it busy outside?"
"More than you can imagine," he slumped in front of me. "Classes already ended, and you have a bunch of fangirls already looking for you outside."
"Jealous?" My lips curled in amusement.
"Relieved I have no daughter," he deadpanned. "I'd do my best to keep her away from you."
"Oh, come on, Wong," I groaned, "We went through with this multiple times. I'm not hurting anyone."
"Yet," he snorted. "The Maggia is still hunting you after that last stunt."
"Who told them to leave hundreds of thousands in a single location?" I rolled my eyes, "Good thing that banker owed me a favor, he made everything too easy."
"That's because he is the owner of the bank," Wong deadpanned, before sighing. "People died because of you, Dante. While they were looking for the money all over New York."
"Aren't the heroes there to stop them?" I lifted an eyebrow, "I still don't understand why that's my problem, you humans die in droves."
Wong's eyes tightened even more, his hand clenching on the armrest with more force than necessary.
"You are evil, Dante."
"A necessary one, I fear," I smiled, patting his shoulder. "At least, that's what Yao says, no? You should listen to her."
"Time to face the music, I fear." I chuckled, vanishing the disgusting mug from the table and putting a charming smile on my face.
Wong groaned behind me, but I ignored him. He would learn… soon, I hoped. He was getting on my nerves with his morality.
I didn't understand why he was getting so pissed about little things.
"And don't forget to lock those books!" he shouted from my office, "How you convinced the Ancient One to copy them is beyond me."
I grinned, winking at him before closing the door.
Yao was a sweetheart, no matter how much she denied it. And she enjoyed my presence; I was sure of it.
Getting permission to copy the books from the Kamar-taj library wasn't as easy as Wong believed, and I was sure she had a reason why she let me. As for me? I did it for the chaos. Letting a bunch of mortals near them, allowing them to read them, was hilarious.
Not that many remembered they had done so. Yao was quite firm, with no brains leaking out of their ears or something like that.
But my wards were special, they only allowed people who had the mind to believe in the occult in. As long as they had an ounce of an inquisitive mind, they could find my cafe.
"Dante!" A beautiful red-haired girl grinned from ear to ear as I passed through the ward, hiding the rest of the building. "Will you fulfill our deal today?"
She batted her eyelashes at me.
I smiled, "MJ, hello."
She pouted.
There was something strange about her. She was a normal mortal, but her fate was a mess and a half. I couldn't get the same eyes as I had when I was Seere, but I had better eyes than when I was just Dante. Not enough to see everything that would happen, but enough to know that she could be special in her own way.
But it wasn't solely dependent on herself. Her fate was tied to someone else who pushed her to new heights. Or, at least, that's what I theorized.
"I already fulfilled our deal, my dear," I rolled my eyes, approaching her table under the doe eyes of her friends. "I already gave you some hints on how to succeed as a model. If you want more, you'll have to make another one."
"And who are these?" I turned to the rest of the table, where three girls and two boys sat.
"I'm Liz," she said, giving me her hand. "Elizabeth Allan."
Hmmm… weird. Fire?
A mutant.
Well… hello there. The first one I met personally.
She shivered under my eyes, but I wasn't leering at her as she might suspect.
She smelled different than the rest. Not exactly human, but almost.
"A pleasure, my lady," I kissed her hand, smiling brightly. "My apologies, it's good to meet Mary Jane's friends."
She squeaked. But we couldn't continue our conversation when the next girl stood up in a hurry.
"And I'm Betty," she smiled brightly, her eyes almost sparkling as she glanced between my hand and face.
These girls. Wong was right…
"A pleasure," I repeated my action, feeding from the glares coming from the two males.
"I'm Gwen," the blond who remained sitting said calmly.
Another special one. She felt like MJ to my senses… no, perhaps even brighter than the redhead.
Curious.
Why were they connected to the same person?
I nodded at her with a smile.
"This is Harry," Gwen pointed at the thin male who was acting as if he wasn't jealous, then pointed at the other one, "That's Flash."
Another pair with important fates. How… thrilling. I wanted to know what made them special.
And to make deals with them… important people always strengthened a demon more than the rabble.
"Sup," I nodded, then turned to MJ once more. I barely managed to keep my lips from twitching as they bristled.
MJ noticed, smacking my arm as she huffed in amusement.
Then she tried to force me to sit at their table. I allowed it, mostly because I didn't want to deal with the glances from the rest of the store. There wasn't an interesting group apart from this one.
"No Peter, Mary Jane?" I sent the redhead a teasing look. She had said multiple times during her visits that she would bring a… neighbor of hers? I sensed something from how she spoke about him, genuine fondness, but here she was with another boy.
I didn't fail to see how Flash sneered, and Harry did an amazing job hiding his. He wasn't that fast, but the ashamed look that passed next was interesting.
"Peter is Harry's best friend and rival of Gwen," MJ explained. "He's really busy, but I have no idea with what."
Curious. Was he jealous of his best friend?
"He's a nerd," Flash snorted, then winced when Gwen kicked him under the table with a glare.
"He's super intelligent," Gwen defended this supposed Peter, "And our good friend."
Flash rolled his eyes but stayed silent.
"Osborn, right?" I looked at Harry, "You look just like your father."
"Have you met him?" He lifted an eyebrow.
"Nah," I waved my hand, smirking, "But we have some… shared acquaintances."
"As an owner of a café?" He looked at me, not trying to hide his disdain.
"Something like that," I grinned.
Norman Osborn had… some underwater dealings with the Kingpin's organization. They tried to keep it hidden, and for most people, they succeeded. But I was good at getting the information I wanted.
That was my next venue… I wanted to become the whisperer of the mortal world.
But I had to bide my time. I wasn't ready for that... yet.
Harry scoffed quietly, leaning back in his seat. "Right. A model that came out of nowhere, did a single photoshoot, opened a café with weird books, knows a lot of people, and somehow, keeps attracting even more… interesting people."
I grinned widely, "That's the American dream you lot love to preach, no? This place is full of interesting people. You just have to know where to look."
"You aren't from here?" MJ asked curiously, "You speak English perfectly."
"You can say I'm good with languages, my dear," I smiled.
"And where do you look?" Gwen asked in French, a competitive look growing on her face.
One that turned into curiosity when I answered perfectly, "Where people talk… like a café. People love to complain where they believe no one is paying attention."
I focused on her. There was something familiar about her face.
"May I ask your last name, my dear?"
She frowned in confusion for a moment, "It's Stacy."
"Ah," I snapped my fingers, "No wonder you looked familiar. Are you George's little girl?"
She blushed, an embarrassed look on her face, "You know my dad?"
"We crossed paths once or twice since I opened this place," I smiled calmly, "He's a good man. An honest cop, surprisingly enough. I found out that's rare in this city… especially around this place."
"Didn't he warn you about coming here?" I laughed loudly, remembering our last meeting.
Gwen blushed even more, the tips of her ears growing red. "I was curious. Mom allowed me to."
"Naughty," I clapped my hands, "But you should listen to George, he knows what he's doing."
"Won't that worsen your business?" MJ interrupted our conversation, trying and failing to hide her jealousy, much to Harry's anger. Then she grinned at her group, "Told you he was weird."
"I might be weird, but you keep coming back."
She opened her mouth, then closed it, huffing. "Because the coffee is good… and because you give advice that actually works."
"I got my first opportunity thanks to you," she smiled softly.
"That's beautiful to hear, my dear. I knew you could do it." I patted her head, "You'll be a wonderful advertisement."
"Not that you need more," Flash snorted, glancing around the place. "It's kind of insane how many people come here."
I followed his eyes. The curious eyes, the lingering stares. The bored mortals who couldn't stop glancing in my direction.
Some wanted to get to know me better, some wanted to make deals with me, and others were simply curious about the new big place in town.
They didn't interest me. No, I was curious about those who had their noses to the books instead. Those who could fight against my passive charm.
"Are you saying the coffee is not good enough?" I palmed my heart.
A wisp of my power went to my eyes, and Flash stiffened.
That brought a few laughs, even from Harry, as Flash apologized. I smiled genially to show I wasn't offended.
MJ shifted in her seat then, her playful expression dimming just a bit. "Hey… uh, Dante?"
"Yes, my dear?"
She hesitated for a moment, then sighed. "You should probably start closing earlier. At least for a while."
"Why's that?" I asked gently. How curious.
"There's been stuff on the news," she said. "There have been over twenty corpses found around New York, but the last eight were found here in Hell's Kitchen… And they are horrible."
Hmmm… that sounded interesting. Especially since I did feel someone from my past paying attention around this place.
A jumped-up demon.
"How unpleasant," I murmured, showing fear that I didn't feel.
"They haven't caught them," Gwen added. "But the corpses appear… drained. Like someone took all the blood from their bodies until only husks remained."
"Spider-Man will catch them soon, you'll see," Flash snorted.
Interesting.
MJ looked at me again, "You don't even have security here, and I know you close pretty late. You should be careful, Dante."
I nodded in thanks, patting her head once again and messing with her hair.
"Thank you for the concern, MJ. Truly."
She relaxed a little at that, nodding. "Just… be careful, okay?"
"I always am."
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some calls to make." I smiled in thanks, offering a nod at the whole group.
Hurriedly, I put myself under the ward's protection. All to avoid my unhinged smile from being noticed.
Later that night.
Dante Andromalius.
As I pulled out my phone, I dialed one of the… many numbers I was forced to save in these three months. Obviously, I couldn't use my phone from Red's reality, but this one was, surprisingly, not any worse.
It was created only by human technology. They truly outdid themselves in these sixty or so years I was occupied.
Hearing the beat, I prepared myself for a very uncomfortable conversation.
"Good morning, Dante," The tired voice of Yao greeted my ears. Wong listened at my side curiously.
"It's night," I deadpanned.
"Here it isn't," she said dryly.
Ah… yes, Earth was weird like that. I forgot about that.
"My apologies, Ancient One." I chuckled. It was a shame Wong was here; I couldn't be as direct as I wanted.
"Why did you call me at this hellish hour, Dante?" she sighed tiredly, then she continued, almost too quiet for me to get, "At first, not knowing what you would do was fun; now I dread every time you call."
I grinned, "You know you miss your best student."
"Dante…" she growled.
"So… look, Wong has been all moppy because I'm evil or something like that." Yes, I threw him under the bus. We all knew everything I was saying was bullshit, but they didn't call me out, even if they rolled their eyes.
And yes, I knew she was rolling her eyes.
"So, I decided to do something good for you humans. There's a serial killer around this place… and I was curious about something."
I heard a facepalm over the phone.
"Dante," she began tiredly.
I spoke as if she didn't say anything, "And I was curious, because I felt someone from my side of the universe keeping an eye around this place… Why is D'Spayre paying attention to this place? And if he has something to do with the killer… can I do anything I want with him?"
"What are you planning?" She asked curiously. "I know who he is, and he is a tortured soul… Will you kill him?"
"That is a surprise, my dear," I grinned from ear to ear, "I can promise you something, though. You won't be able to blame me, no matter how much you'd want to. I told you I am fair."
"But the question remains," I tilted my head, "Would D'Spayre do something against me? He's at fault, right? I can feel his stench even from my building."
"He could have been more," Yao sighed almost sadly, "But his fate was broken even before your arrival. Do as you wish, Dante. If that demon acts out, I will sort him out personally."
And that's what I wanted to hear.
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